Declining Bank Margins Are Bad News

By

Roger Arnold

| Mar 24, 2013 | 11:00 AM EDT

Bank lending in the U.S. has been steadily declining since the financial crisis of 2008, even as the Federal Reserve has been implementing monetary policies that are intended to encourage banks to make loans.

The banks receiving the monetary stimulus have been using it for purposes other than lending, principally in the acquisition of liquid exchange-traded securities, and this has allowed banks' total earnings to increase along with their stock prices over the past four years....463 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.

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